I've fed my dog almost an entire bag of Acana Pacifica. He loves it, as he does with all foods i've given him, but dang he gets gassy!!! I can watch a movie or something and all the sudden he'll stink up the whole room!!! This is the only significant diet change he's had...so i'm pretty sure this is what the problem is. My dog is a GSD-Husky mix. Do you guys have any suggestions on a food that is just as high of quality, but perhaps not so rich? He also has a sensitive tummy...being part shepherd and all. They seem to have lots of tummy isseus! However the Acana hasn't given him diarrehia or anything.

Thanks!!!

Kelsey

We had the same issue! Gas, Gas, Gas! I think a lot of it has to do with the protein to fiber ratio. We switched to Blue Buffalo in the mornings and Grandma Lucy's Pureformance in the evenings. The gas went away.

Both of the foods our pups are on now have a significant increase in fiber. No gas issues whatsoever and they are still happy and well fed. We had this problem with both the wild prairie and pacifica. It's only 3% fiber and the wilderness salmon (also high protein) is 6.5% fiber.

Oh lovely! Haha. Gas is so terrible in dogs, i swear. I've never heard of the Grandma Lucy's. I don't know if there is anywhere around here to buy that. I'm in Austin,TX. What kind of Blue did you feed? I know there are tons of types! I'm iffy about putting him on the Wilderness one though...it's got a lot of protein in it.

Huskies do great on high protein diets. My dogs are on Blue Buffalo Wilderness Salmon or Duck... It's only got 1% more protein than the Acana.

I'm unsure why you are hesitant to put your dog on Wilderness when your dog was on Acana?

It may be an ingredient thing too. Ghost got horrible paint peeling gas on the TOTW High Prairie formula, so we switched to the Pacific Stream formula and she's fine. Lulu will get bad gas whenever she eats chicken based food, and I know several other dogs like that as well. You might have to try a few different foods to find out what works for you, and don't forget to do gradual shifts so you don't give him diarrhea.

Honestly, i may just keep him on Acana and see how he does later on. I've heard that dogs who get switched over to it are often gassy at first, but then it starts to go away. Maybe he just needs time? He has gotten somewhat better. And i was unsure about putting him on the Wilderness cause i thought it had a significant percentage of higher protein. It doesn't sound like it would be that drastic of a change though if it's only 1%

Yep only 1%, I just checked.

Have you ever tried Innova EVO or the Instinct?

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showcat.php/cat/8

Kale is on Evo right now and his poops and coat are the best that they have been since he was a puppy. I'm actually really impressed. He's on Grandma Lucys Pureformance Lamb and Evo Herring and Salmon.

vhrocks323 wrote:

Have you ever tried Innova EVO or the Instinct?

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showcat.php/cat/8

I use dry food only about once a week, but one of the few dry foods we rotate through is Natures Variety Instinct. We have tried the rabbit and the salmon formulas. My two do much better on the rabbit. The salmon made their stool a little loose. No problems with gas on the Instinct for my two. Never tried EVO. Thought about it in the past, but then P&G bought out Natura, which is the company that use to produce EVO. I've decided to stay away from it now, I just personally don't trust P&G not to mess with the quality and source of the ingredients.

We fed nearly every variety of Acana with no gas issues. Perhaps try a different protein source? I really liked grasslands the best.

Valkyrie gets Natures Variety Instinct salmon and we have a bag of duck too. She does fine on it. I would not go the EVO route for reasons mentioned.

If the only problem with your dog is gas then I don't think the issue is that the food is too rich, rather it's probably an ingredient in that formula causing the gas. If I were in your shoes, I'd simply try a different formula and see how it goes. It's kind of like how beans tend to make people gassy for example, and if they do one tends to avoid them. They don't do any real harm, just have slightly unpleasant side effects (smell and sometimes mild stomach discomfort). If you like Acana perhaps try another of their formulas and go from there.

You could try reducing the amount you are feeding...that might help with the gas (or try the other suggestions of changing formula)

I see you live in Texas. Try Victor or Precise. Both of these are actually made by companies that know about dog foods, not shifty, recall-plagued smoke and mirror frauds like Champion.

Champion products are garbage, made to appeal to owners, generally owners with little or no experience. Champion does not even employ a clinical nutritionist and the CEO is from the chemical industry.

It is your money, clearly the food is not good because your dog has a problem with it. If you do a little a research you will find this is the case for Orijen as well.

It is crap.

Lu&Katsmom wrote:

vhrocks323 wrote:

Have you ever tried Innova EVO or the Instinct?

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showcat.php/cat/8

I use dry food only about once a week, but one of the few dry foods we rotate through is Natures Variety Instinct. We have tried the rabbit and the salmon formulas. My two do much better on the rabbit. The salmon made their stool a little loose. No problems with gas on the Instinct for my two. Never tried EVO. Thought about it in the past, but then P&G bought out Natura, which is the company that use to produce EVO. I've decided to stay away from it now, I just personally don't trust P&G not to mess with the quality and source of the ingredients.

I am laughing at your post because Nature's Variety sold out to a shifty private equity firm with nothing but financial motives. Is that better than Natura being owned by P&G? Champion, Wellness, Eagle., The Honest Kitchen, Holistic Select all sold out too.

Nature's Variety uses some of the lowest quality proteins on the market. All you have to do is look at the ash content. Horrible food.

Wow, I'm amazed by the misinformation posted by toomanyhuskies. Clearly someone needs to check their facts before posting blatantly wrong information the way you do. But I've seen your other posts in the past and already know it's not worth my time arguing with someone who ignores logic and obviously can't be bothered with fact checking. I don't care that you have differing opinions but posting things as fact that are clearly wrong like some of the companies you say have sold out is something I do have a problem with.

TooManyHuskies must just come on here when they are bored and want to stir up internet drama. What a sad life. Trolling a dog forum is pretty lame, go hit up 4chan or something.

However, note: NV did up their ash content and it is pretty high (most foods I think are 7-8%, theirs is 12). We bought a bag 2 weeks ago and switched it out because of that, but it all depends on what your concerns are. Higher ash contents have been mentioned to contribute to UTIs which Ro is prone too so I can't have that. NV is NOT a shitty food, though.

Hey Heather,

Do you know what the ash content is for Blue Wilderness?

No idea. A lot of food doesn't disclose their ash content from what I've seen, so you'd have to e-mail.

Heather! wrote:

TooManyHuskies must just come on here when they are bored and want to stir up internet drama. What a sad life. Trolling a dog forum is pretty lame, go hit up 4chan or something.

However, note: NV did up their ash content and it is pretty high (most foods I think are 7-8%, theirs is 12). We bought a bag 2 weeks ago and switched it out because of that, but it all depends on what your concerns are. Higher ash contents have been mentioned to contribute to UTIs which Ro is prone too so I can't have that. NV is NOT a shitty food, though.

I was thinking the same thing, bet they do the same thing on all sorts of other forums. What a pathetic existence.

Thanks for the info on the ash content increase. Kitty is UTI prone so I also like to avoid excessive ash content.

I think trolls know dog forums get a little crazy about things such as spaying/neutering and nutrition so they like to engage in some fun, lol.

You're welcome. I would definitely suggest looking for alternatives if she is UTI prone. It's a bummer as aside from that, I really like their food, especially since it is potato free.

I will say though that Annamaet's grain free formulas are pretty good if you don't mind 3-4 protein sources, they are low on ash. They're pretty darn pricey though, especially since you won't really find a local carrier...

Emailed!

Use something made by a company that knows how to make food for dogs, not a marketing company targeting novice pet owners.

Heather! wrote:

I will say though that Annamaet's grain free formulas are pretty good if you don't mind 3-4 protein sources, they are low on ash. They're pretty darn pricey though, especially since you won't really find a local carrier...

Salcha is $53 in NJ for 30lbs. The best GF on the market. The same nutritionist that invented the first performance kibble formulated this food after seeing how bad most of them are. Low ash, a novel mix of fresh fiber, Omegas 3' over 1% and small batch processing.

Use foods made by experts.